Latch



s. H. WHEELER.

Latch.

No. 229,347. Patented June 29, 1 88 0.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.-

SHEPHERD H. WHEELER, OF PERU, INDIANA.

LATCH.

SPEGIFTGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 229,347, dated June 29,1880. Application filed February 10, 1880.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known thatI, SHEPHERD H. WHEELER, of the city of Peru, county ofMiami, and State of Indiana, have invented a new and useful Improvementin Door-Latches, of which the following is a specification.

The nature of this invention relates to the construction of knob-latchesof the class that are actuated by the weight of some of the parts, so asto dispense with the need of springs and it consists of the combinationof devices hereinafter described and claimed.

The accompanying drawings form a part of this specification.

The letters of reference in the drawings denote the parts indicated bysimilar letters in the specification.

Figure l of the drawings shows a side view of the door and the positionof the knob when the door is latched or locked. Fig. 3 shows the sameview of the door as Fig. 1, and shows the position of the knobs when theknobs are elevated and the latch drawn back. Fig. 2 is a front-edge viewof Fig. 3. Fig. 4 shows an edge view and the form of the inner'face ofthe rose-plates. Fig. 5 shows the edge and form of the outer face of thebearing-plates. Fig. 6 shows a side view of the latch. Fig. 7 is asection of the door, and shows the position of the latch-dog and spindlewhen the latch is drawn back, as in Figs. 2 and 3. Fig. 8 shows the sameparts as Fig. 7 ,with the dog disengaged and the door latched, as inFig. 1. Fig. 9 shows the position of the latch and spindle when the dooris locked. Fig. 10 shows a side and edge view of the dog.

The door A is constructed, hinged, cased, and provided with a keeper toreceive the outer end of the latch (in latching and locking the door) inthe usual form of making and hanging doors, and need not be describedhere.

B represents a plate attached to the front edge of the door, as shown inFig. 2. This plate supports the outer end of the latch I. This latch isinserted into a mortise and provided with the heart-shaped slot K at therear end. In this slot the knob-spindle M works, and when the latch I isused as a latch only the spindle M works in the front end of the slot K,as seen in Fig. 8; but when the latch is used as a locking-bolt thespindle works in the rear end of the-slot, as seen in Fig. 9.

0 represents a dog. This dog is set in the corner of the door under theplate 13, and piv .oted to the door by means of the screw or through theplate B. This dog has a prong, C to engage with the hole d in the latch,and is set so that when the prong O drops into the hole d the lower endof the dog will project slightly beyond the face of the door, as seen atO in Fig. 2. A heavy projection on the dog at 0 causes the prong topress inward against the latch at all times when the lower end of thedog is free to swing.

D D are the bearing-plates of the spindle. One is placed on the insideof the door and the other is placed directly opposite, on the outside ofthe door, and both are provided on their outer surfaces with theshoulders h h. f 1

represents akey-hole through the lower edge of one of these plates, andP represents a slot extending from the center to near the upper edge ofboth. This slot holds and guides the spindle M, and is set with itsupper end inclined from the front edge of the door, so as to cause thelatch I to draw back as the spindle passes up the inclined slots.

H H represent the rose-plates, the outer faces of which are formed inthe usual form of rose-plates used on knob-spindles; but their innerfaces are provided with the shoulders g These shoulders conform to theshoulders h h on the plates D D. AlLthat part of the spindle M betweenthe rose-plates is formed round; but in the rose-plates and knobs thespindle is square, as is the usual form of knobspindles.

A square hole, J, in the plates H H fits the square part of the spindle,and causes the roseplates to turn as the knobs are turned. Now, as theshoulders h h and g g are in close contact when the latch is in theposition shown in Fig. 1, the spindle will move upward and backward, anddraw the latch in on turning the knobs in either direction, and as theprong O on the dogO is constantly pressing against the latch I, it willdrop into the hole 61 as soon as the latch is sufficiently drawn in toallow the door to open, in which position the latch will be held by thedog as long as the door stands open, or until the latch is released bypressing the lower end of the dog. Now, as nearly all doors shut againsta permanent stop, and as the dog 0 is pivoted in the corner of the doorthat strikes the stop when the door is closed, the projecting end of thedog will come in contact with the stop, pressing it inward and throwingits upper end outward, thus disengaging the prong G from the hole dinthe latch, when the latch will shoot out, impelled by the weight of theknobs and spindle, and enter the keeper and hold the door latched.

The ordinary keeper for mortise-latches is suitable for this latch, andneed not be shown nor described further here.

To look this device the knobs are turned so as to show the key-hole inthe plate D. After introducing the key the knobs are allowed to drop.This brings the latch I Within'reach of the key, which will engage withthe notchesp p in the latch and lift the latch so as to throw theprojection in the upper side of the slot K over the spindle M, and thuslock or unlock the door, as may be desired.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim is 1. In aknob-latch, the combination of dog 0, having prong (Di-projection (lpivot a, and latch I, having hole d, as shown.

2. The combination of plate B, plates D D, having shoulders h h and slotP, plates H H, having shoulders g g and square hole J, knobs G, spindleM, and latch I, having slot K, substantially as and for the purposes setforth.

3. In combination, the plate B, plates D D, having key-hole f, plates HH, knobs G, latch I, having notchespp and slot K, and spindle M, asshown and described.

4. In combination, the plate B, plates 1) D, having shoulders h h andslot P, plates H H, having shoulders g g and square hole J, knobs G,spindle M, latch I, having hole (Z and slot K, dog O, having prong Oprojection 0 and pivot a, when constructed, arranged, and combined ashereinbefore set forth.

5. The combination of plate B, plates D D, having shoulders h h and slotP, plates H H, having shoulders g gand square hole J, knobs 45 G,spindle M, and latch I, having hole 61 and slot K, as and for thepurposes setforth.

SHEPHERD H. WHEELER.

Witn esses WILLIAM E. Mo WBRAY, F. L. FOBES.

